Facing Reality
by Kiki Yushima
Summary: A series of roleplay inspired drabbles and oneshots detailing Solana's experiences as she faces her abusive father in court. This will contain heavy mentions of abuse and occasional mentions of rape, so proceed at your own caution.
1. Time For Action

urgh I just decided to compress these into one story instead of spamming the category with them.

These are RP-inspired drabbles/oneshots that detail Solana's character arc as she faces her abusive father in court.

* * *

Solana groaned and rolled over as she glanced at the clock, the harsh red numbers displaying quarter to one in the morning. Her expression grew somber and her eyes opened wide as she realised it was finally the sixteenth of June.

Father's Day.

Her heart constricted as her chest constricted, her breathing doubling in less than a second.

Today was not a good day.

It never had been.

Her mother would be suffering.

Possibly her sister too.

He did whatever he wanted to them on Father's Day.

She gripped her pillow tightly and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths as she tried to calm herself down.

She had to get them out of there _now._

She had been passive long enough.

She had to act now for their safety.

Solana shook her head as she let go of her pillow and stood up, flicking the light on and walking over to the closet. She pulled one of her uniforms out and changed, then pulled her hair up into her signature style. She pulled her Styler onto her arm and nodded to Mimi who quickly jumped onto her shoulder.

She opened her Styler and tapped at a few buttons before a sleepy voice came over the small speaker. "Solana, it's past midnight… What's going on?" Jenny's tone was none too pleased with having her beauty sleep interrupted, but it also showed that she knew something was up.

"I'm going back to Sinnoh. I have to rescue my mother and sister before…" Solana trailed off as she looked away. She kept her history under tight wraps from all other Rangers. Chairperson Erma did her best to keep it under wraps as well, so nobody dare ask her about it. Some of them had seen the scars, so they knew something bad had happened to her, but she never spoke of it.

"Eh? What do you need, Sol?" Jenny's tone instantly jarred into awakeness as Solana took a shaky breath.

"I need you to call the Hearthome City authorities. Tell them that I'll be meeting them at their office. I'll be maybe twenty minutes." Solana fought to keep her tone even as her body sprang into panic mode. She wanted to flee and not look back, but she needed to do this. She probably should have contacted Blaze before this, but…she needed to do this on her own. She had to face her demons on her own. This was her problem and nobody else's. "Tell the chief that…Lala's coming back." The nickname was known to only a few—mostly her music teachers—but the chief had been a close friend of one of them. He knew her as Lala, so that would prove her story.

"Are you sure you can do this, Sol?" Jenny's voice was tense as she was no doubt able to hear the panic in Solana's.

There was a moment of pause, but the Ranger nodded. "I can." She had to get them out of there before he damaged them even further.

—

True to her word, it took Solana only about twenty minutes to appear in the Hearthome City police department. The officers stared at the young woman before them. When she had run, she was nothing more than a scared fifteen year old. Now she stood a proud Top Ranger that had saved the Fiore region. The chief, Jason, lowered his glasses and shook his head, clearly unable to believe his eyes.

"Solana, it's been four years. What's the meaning of this…?" The question was cut short by a fierce look from the Ranger as she removed her jacket. The room hushed instantly when the officers saw the pale scars against her deeply tanned skin.

"I want to bring abuse charges against my father. From the time I was three until the time I was fifteen, I was beaten nearly everyday. From the time I was seven, I saw my nannies raped in front of me. I would have come sooner, but I was afraid of him. He held power over me, but no longer." Solana's tone was confident and assured, but she was screaming internally. She wanted to run and hide, to break down while the memories flashed before her. But she slammed up her barriers, keeping the angry look on her face. The anger and hatred was the only thing driving her right now.

Jason nodded slowly, unable to deny the physical proof in front of him. It took only a few minutes for them to get in his car and head over to the Ambrose residence. The mansion rose high in the night sky, its limestone walls stark against the onyx cloak. Solana swallowed the lump in her throat, her heart pounding as the car pulled up to the main gate. She was hidden in the back seat so that no suspicion would be aroused. Police checks were common at her household from what she remembered and it seemed they still were as they were let in without a question.

Jason opened his door and she opened hers. Her heart beat faster as she stared at the doors she had fled out for her life four years ago. The sound was deafening in her ears, but she strode forward with confidence next to the chief, a startled maid answering. "S-So—?!" A glare from the teen silenced the maid who nodded meekly and let them by.

They had barely made it up the first flight of stairs when Kinsley met them. His expression went from one of confusion to pure rate when he laid his eyes on her. Her legs began to shake and her eyes widened a bit, but she quickly furrowed her eyebrows as she took a step toward him.

"What do you want, you ungrateful little bitch?!" The familiar words made Solana flinch and nearly brought her to her knees, but she forced herself to remain standing. Jason quickly got behind Kinsley and started to pull the handcuffs out, but Kinsley retaliated, smacking Jason in the face. It didn't take long for them to get into a full fist fight; the handcuffs flew out of Jason's hands and landed next to Solana's feet. After hesitating for a heartbeat, she grabbed them and yanked Jason away by the back of his shirt, wrestling with her father for several moments. She managed to push his face into the carpet and slap the cuffs on his wrists while he swore at the top of his lungs.

Pandora came out just as Jason started walking Kinsley out of the house, her red eyes wide as they focused on Solana. The Ranger turned around and smiled to her mother, clasping her hands before her. "Solana…is that really…?"

The teen nodded as she walked over to her mother, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. The older woman flinched slightly but a gentle smile formed on her lips. "I'm sorry it took me four years to finally get the courage to do this. I realised what today was and…I finally snapped. I'm sorry, Mother." Pandora shook her head as she covered her mouth, tears running down her cheeks as she hugged her daughter. The Ranger just smiled as she stroked her mother's dark blue hair, shushing and calming her like she had done to Solana so long ago. "The nightmare is over… He'll never hut us again…"


	2. Crossroads

Solana sighed as she sat at the desk in the living room, looking over the slew of papers before her. It had been just over twenty-four hours since her father had been arrested and he had already gotten a lawyer. She had been confident that she would be able to win the case, but he had gotten one of the hardest-hitting attorneys from Unova, one of the best money could buy. He had already refused to speak to the police and his lawyer was only stonewalling the police. The mansion was under full lockdown as the police searched it for evidence.

Luckily, they had already found the torture chamber—for lack of a better term—and had begun interviewing the long-time servants. Most of them were still around from when Solana had been a child as Kinsley kept a tight rein on everybody around him. They had been terrified to speak initially, but Solana's almost miraculous reappearance had convinced them to speak. The firsthand counts of the abuse were already beginning to mount as well as the physical evidence.

Unfortunately, as she was the one to bring charges, she was getting hounded constantly by police. She wanted to help them search the house and had tried to use her Top Ranger position to get in, but they shut her out as it was "out of her jurisdiction." She knew it was true, though, so she had to sit back and watch on the sidelines.

The day had been a rough one. As soon as she had stepped outside of the house, the media had hounded her, peppering her with nonstop questions about everything. She had also been forced to display her body to doctors and police officers for pictures of the scars. Their reactions would be seared into her mind forever. She had taken the dress she'd been wearing at the time off at a Slugma's pace, slowly revealing the scars that crisscrossed her back and torso. There was barely an inch of unmarred skin from the twelve years of relentless beatings.

Solana had wanted to break down and cry, but she knew it wasn't the time nor the place. She had managed to hold the flashbacks at bay until the appointment was over, but just long enough to get to the car. When she passed onto the seat and into the darkly tinted windows, she had cried for well over an hour afterward. Only her mother's gentle ministrations had helped calm her down.

Pandora had been subjected to the same treatment at the same time but in another room. Solana was glad in away as she wasn't sure if she would have been able to handle seeing her mother's body just like hers. Of course, she had as a child and the images still haunted her. Despite the strange heat wave Sinnoh was currently experiencing, the older woman still opted to wore clothes that hid her entire body. Even the smallest glimpse of skin revealed terrible scars.

But what worried Solana the most was what the doctors had said. Due to the severe abuse she had suffered while her body was still developing, there were internal injuries. She had always opted to ignore the pains in favor of training, but they warned her that if she pushed herself to her limits continuously, her body might shut down completely. It meant she would have to retire early from being a Ranger at some point.

That scared her more than her father had her entire life.

She would have to leave the family that she had come to know and love over the past four years likely within the next five or so years if she wanted to live to a good age.

What would she even do after she retired? She had spent three years training for this and had intended to do it for the rest of her life. But now, she had a choice: retire early and live a long life or continue her dangerous job and die early.

She gripped her hands into fists and closed her eyes, tears sliding down her cheeks. Why had this happened to her? She was one of the best, but she wouldn't be for much longer. Her body would catch up to her sooner or later and she had to choose what to do.

After the case was won, she would be set for life with money as everything was already being transferred over to her mother's name. But she didn't want to sit around idly and cross stitch like her mother did. She didn't want a quiet life. After everything she had experienced, there was no way she could go back.

Even her long ago dream of being a professional musician would leave her feeling empty. Her calling was to be a Ranger, not some pretty doll that sat around and did nothing. In a long ago lifetime, she would have been, but not now…


	3. Fading Connections

_Summer...?_ The faint psychic cry from Solana's mind jarred Summer awake and she stiffened for a moment, afraid that she would wake Blaze, but the older woman was slumbering deeply, so she slipped out of the house without fear. She climbed into a tree and sat on one of the branches, one leg dangling off and brushing the ground.

_Sorry for the slight delay, Sol; didn't want to wake Blaze. What's the matter?_ Summer closed her eyes and put her right hand over her ear, focusing on the weak signal. Something major had happened since Solana almost never contacted her this late. Mewtwo probably wasn't too happy about being awoken at three in the morning either, but he would deal with it. The signal was also the weakest it had ever been in two years, another red flag for the young Ranger.

There was a momentary pause and she felt the signal waver even further. Whatever had happened definitely had thrown the normally calm blue haired teen into complete disarray. Summer's heart constricted in her chest while she waited for her friend's reply.

_I did it... I confronted my father yesterday... The police are already getting the case together..._ Even mentally, Summer could hear the stress as Solana's voice became extremely withdrawn, barely above a whisper. Her throat caught as she closed her eyes tightly, stretching her mind to give her friend any bit of strength she could, but there was little that she could do with being thousands of miles away.

_I'm proud of you, Sol. Really proud._ Summer did her best to keep her tone warm and supportive, but she knew she was faltering. She felt Solana's mind flicker like a flame in a hurricane, almost unable to bear the stress of what was going on. A heaviness weighed on her shoulders, pure fear and anguish radiating from the other girl's core. There was little that could be hidden on such an intimate plane. _What happened, Sol?_

_The doctors... They told me..._ The connection faded and Summer's eyes flew open, heart racing. The doctors? She'd seen doctors? Then again, the scars were physical evidence for the case, so of course they'd need to see them, but Solana must have been close to breaking down. Even seeing the one Ranger medic she did in Fiore sent her over the edge and into complete mental collapse. What had being poked, prodded and photographed by doctors and police officers done to the fragile girl?

Summer felt the connection spring back to life and she closed her eyes, reaching out with all her strength to keep the pathway open. It was weaker than before; she knew Solana wouldn't last more than a couple more moments. She needed to get this information.

_...I'll have to retire within the next three to five years._

The psychic weight of the words sent Summer's mind reeling, and she hit the ground as Solana's barriers flew up. She coughed and gasped for air, feeling like she had just gotten punched in the chest full force by a Machoke. The wind was knocked out of her, but she started breathing again a few moments later, coughing heavily.

But she didn't move, eyes wide as she stared at the clear, starry sky above. Solana would have to retire within the next three to five years? Had the abuse really been that bad that it had done that much damage to her body? Then again, Solana's body was so badly marred that there was barely an inch of it untouched.

Summer put her forearm over her eyes and closed them, tears starting to roll down the sides of her face. The training days that they had done would need to stop. She couldn't push her friend's limits any longer. She didn't want to damage the already fragile girl anymore than she already was.

But retirement by twenty-four? That was a death sentence for any Ranger. Not being able to help those in need would be an almost impossible task. Most Rangers worked until they were forty or fifty. There were early retirements like this on occasion, but they were only for extremely severe cases near death. Solana was still young, but her body was already so old from the extreme beatings she had taken as a child.

Why, why had this happened to her? She had done nothing to deserve this. And Arceus wouldn't help, she knew that for sure. He never stepped in to help mortals. If they came to rely on Him too much, then when he pulled back, there would be rebellion.

There was nothing that could be done to help Solana as far as Summer knew.

Her friend was doomed to an early retirement and an uncertain future.


	4. Aftermath

Solana sighed as she laid on the bed in her new house in Fiore, curled up in a tight ball with her knees to the chest. The past few weeks had been hell for the Ranger as she'd been dealing with everything that had come with bringing her father to trial as well as getting everything into her mother's name. The trial itself had been even worse than she had expected. It had been rather swift, lasting only four days, but it had still taken its toll on her more than everything else had.

Even now, she was doing her best to put it behind her, but it was hard. She could still hear the strangled cries of the women and girls as they broke down and gave their testimonies about what Kinsley had done to them or what they had escaped-if they were lucky-but still witnessed. Unfortunately, the number that escaped his treatment fist were few and far between, but none of escaped unmarried either physically or mentally.

Luckily, just had been swift and unrelenting. The jury had taken less than five minutes to convict him of every single count on the list. From assault and battery to kidnapping and stalking to domestic violence and spousal rape... Every single count had stuck; the overwhelming evidence had seen to that. He'd been put in jail for basically the rest of his life with the only chance of parole not being until he was about eighty.

Over two dozen people had given their testimonies against Kinsley. Most were the girls and women that served as maids and nannies to Solana and her sister, but there had also been plenty from the few men that served as butlers as well. Then there were the thousands of photos and hundreds of hours of video. Most of the video had been far too graphic to show in the courtroom, but they'd played the audio and Solana could still hear their screams in the back of her mind and they weren't going anywhere for a long time.

Then there was the physical evidence gathered from Solana and Pandora themselves. The X rays and photos taken of their bodies within the first twenty-four hours of the investigation. Both of them had severe internal damage on top of their extreme scarring. Solana thought herself lucky for having just her front and back scarred; her mother's entire body was marred beyond recognition. It was to the point where Pandora refused to wear anything that showed any skin below the bottom of her neck and anything less than her hands.

But that wasn't what had distressed Solana the most. It was the fact that Summer was nowhere to be found. It had been a month since this had all started and she had tried frantically to get in contact with her friend, but Summer had formed a mental block that not even Mewtwo could get through. The most he knew was that she was in her Blaze's Asada, tracking down some legendaries that might be able to help her so she could remain a Ranger. Outside of that, there had been no news from her best friend.

Chairperson Erma had put her on indefinite leave as as soon as she'd reported back to the Ringtown Base. She had been granted two months leave so she could deal with the trial, but now that she was back in Fiore a month early, she had been put on indefinite leave. She was doing her best to help ease her mother into a normal life, but it was hard. Solana was barely able to leave the house due to Pandora clinging to her out of fear. She understood he rmother's fears and did her best to reassure that Kinsley would never come near them again, but it was hard.

That was taking its toll on her as well. She wanted to get back out and serve the people around her and see her friends again, but Pandora's fears kept everyone away. Lunick had entered the house to greet Solana when she came back, but Pandora had suffered a major panic attack seeing the boy. Her fear of men was deep and she understood why; she had suffered abuse from her own father starting at a young age, but the true horrors hadn't started until she had married Kinsley.

She hadn't slept in days. Whenever she drifted off, the nightmares haunted her. The screams of the victims rang in her mind and she woke up, crying for the horrors that would follow them for the rest of their lives. She didn't care about herself; she just wanted them to never suffer again, though she knew their own nightmares were just beginning as one ended.


End file.
